Obesity is a growing global health problem frequently intractable to current treatment options. For example, lifestyle changes such as exercising and limiting dietary intake may not be successful at controlling obesity, e.g., due in part to compensatory responses that reduce metabolism in response to dietary restriction. Medical interventions such as appetite suppressant medications may be only marginally successful in assisting weight loss and invasive surgical interventions such as gastric bypass surgery have increased risks. Thus, it is desirable to provide alternative interventions that can successfully control weight gain and appetite with reduced risks.
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) in select brain regions has provided therapeutic benefits for otherwise-treatment-resistant movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, and dystonia. Treatment with DBS has also been attempted for a variety of other clinical indications such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and epilepsy. Given the success of DBS in these clinical efforts, other indications for which there is currently little effective therapy are being evaluated preclinically, for eventual clinical use. Obesity may be one such indication.
DBS involves implanting slender leads tipped with electrical contacts at a specific location in a target region of the brain of a patient. The electrodes are designed to non-destructively deliver mild electric pulses to the specific location. The leads are connected to an implanted, compact, battery-operated pulse generator in a fashion similar to a heart pacemaker. DBS leads are placed in the brain according to the type of symptoms to be addressed and thus correct placement of the stimulating electrode is essential for the success of these approaches.